Akureyri: the northern capital that works on its own

Eyjafjörður is sixty kilometres long and cuts into the land from Iceland’s north coast like a deep, narrow incision. At the far end of that fjord, where the mountains give way to enough level ground to build something more than a farm, sits Akureyri: twenty thousand inhabitants, the country’s second city, the one that northerners simply call “the city” without needing to specify which. That a European country’s second city should have twenty thousand people says something about Iceland. That this city has a university, a public hospital, a theatre, a municipal market and several kitchens worth travelling for says something about what Akureyri has chosen to be.

A city that does not depend on tourism

The difference between Akureyri and other Nordic tourist destinations is that Akureyri would exist identically without tourists. It has its own economy: fishing, manufacturing, services, a university with four thousand students, the hospital serving the entire north of the country. The restaurants in the centre are not designed for groups with a tour guide but for the Icelanders who live there and eat out on Thursday evenings. This changes the atmosphere in a noticeable way. The city is not performing for anyone — it simply exists — and you can move through it with the same discretion you would apply to any small European city.

The Akureyrakirkja church, reached by a flight of steps that drops directly to the town centre, is the work of Guðjón Samúelsson, the same architect who designed Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík. The resemblance is intentional: the same stylised basalt forms, the same idea of an architecture arising from the volcanic landscape. The view from the steps down to the fjord, with boats on the water and mountains behind permanently snowcapped except in August, is one of the best urban views in Iceland.

Akureyri’s botanical garden, ten minutes’ walk from the centre, is the northernmost in the world with a functional rose garden. The fjord’s microclimate, sheltered from Atlantic winds by the surrounding mountains, produces a summer average temperature that makes possible what the latitude of 66°N would seem to rule out. In July there are roses. The same garden holds plants from every continent, labelled in Icelandic and Latin.

Mývatn: the volcanic interior without the crowds

A hundred kilometres south of Akureyri, following Route 1 east and then the lake road 848, Lake Mývatn is one of the most concentrated and varied volcanic landscapes in Iceland, and considerably less crowded than the Golden Circle in the southwest. It is not less impressive — it is further from Reykjavík, which filters out day-tripping tourism and leaves Mývatn for those who arrive with specific intent.

The lake itself covers forty-four square kilometres and formed less than 2,300 years ago when volcanic eruptions dammed a river and created a basin. The pseudocraters at Skútustaðir, on the southern shore, are lava structures formed when hot lava flowed over wet ground and trapped steam exploded upward. These are not volcanic craters but steam craters, and their near-perfect conical shape makes them photogenic from any angle.

The Dimmuborgir lava fields (“The Dark Cities” in Icelandic), east of the lake, are a labyrinth of columns and arches formed two thousand years ago when a lake of magma cooled from below — the water trapped beneath the lava evaporated and produced these impossible shapes. The site served as the location for the Cave of the Night’s Watch in Game of Thrones, which does not begin to do justice to what it is independently of any cultural reference: a place to walk for an hour and not return by the same route.

Húsavík and the whales

Fifty kilometres northeast of Akureyri, Húsavík is the best whale-watching harbour in all of Iceland and one of the best in Europe. The reason is geographical: it sits on Skjálfandi Bay, where Atlantic currents bring concentrations of capelin in summer that attract humpback whales in numbers that no other Icelandic port can match. Húsavík’s boats are traditionally built wooden vessels — a practical and visual contrast to the Reykjavík zodiacs that is not merely aesthetic but also a matter of stability on the water.

Getting there from Reykjavík

The Reykjavík to Akureyri flight (Air Iceland Connect, departing from the domestic airport) takes forty-five minutes and can cost under a hundred euros in mid-season. The road alternative is 380 kilometres along the Ring Road: four hours without stops, which easily becomes six or seven once the inland landscape and northern fjords are factored in. Both options make sense depending on available time. The flight for those with a few days; the road for those who want the journey north to be part of the journey.

The complete Far Guides Iceland guide includes detailed routes across the whole island, interactive maps and all the practical information you need to plan your Ring Road and beyond.